Bonus Podcast #33: The Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase 1 (Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, and The Avengers)

[00:00:08] Hello everybody, welcome back to the Film Buds Podcast. This is our 33rd bonus show and my name is Henry. This time around I'm going to be talking about Phase 1 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, starting with Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America, The First

[00:00:33] Avenger, and then ending off with The Avengers. I am wanting to do, in the next couple of months, doing Phases 1 through 4 so each one will have its individual show so I'm hoping to cover the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe

[00:00:47] and then hopefully just keeping up with every Marvel film coming out from there on and maybe getting into some of the shows as well that we haven't covered on the regular podcast. But it should be a great time.

[00:00:57] I love Marvel, love DC as well, but excited to finally get some big Marvel shows on here so thanks for joining us. Thank you for downloading, donating, subscribing, however it is you got this show.

[00:01:09] Thank you very much and if you aren't subscribed to our Bandcamp page, please do. You get a ton of content for just a $5 monthly donation or subscription so please do that if you've not yet and thank you to all those who have donated, subscribed, all that good stuff.

[00:01:23] So we really do appreciate it. Thanks for being here. If you do listen to our regular podcast, we've talked about plenty of Marvel on the show over the years but this will be the first time talking about a good bit of these specifically,

[00:01:38] you know, doing specific reviews of each of these films. So I'm excited to do that. I've mostly done DC movies on bonus shows so far. I did every DC extended universe film up until this point so you can check out those bonus shows as well. I love Marvel.

[00:01:53] I think they're more consistent than DC is, although I think if I had to choose, I prefer DC but there are still some great Marvel movies and I think they have a much better track record, especially on the critical side of things.

[00:02:07] And I think phase one is a, obviously it's a starting point for them and there are some ups and downs and things that they didn't maintain with the rest of the films moving forward but so I think these are some pretty interesting ones for better and for worse.

[00:02:24] Yeah, well, without further ado, let's get into it. So let's do, let's talk Iron Man which started it all. It came out in 2008, directed by Jon Favreau, stars Robert Downey Jr. of course, Gwyneth

[00:02:40] Paltrow, Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Leslie Bibb, not a lot of other, Jon Favreau as well. And this one made 585 million, this one made 585 million against a budget of around 140 so pretty decent hit, open to pretty decent reviews as well and of course this, you know,

[00:03:02] I just said this kicked off everything, it was a hit enough to where they're like, alright, we have some momentum here, let's keep going and of course the rest is history. They have, you know, it's become this, you know, it's become an incredible success to

[00:03:15] say the least and especially Iron Man, you know, it's probably the most successful out of any of the characters in their own individual franchises within the MCU. This one I actually did not see probably until the mid 2010s.

[00:03:29] I think Captain America, The Winter Soldier which is still my favorite Marvel movie by far that one really kind of reignited my interest in Marvel and that got me to go back and I

[00:03:40] think some might even realize had come out like The Incredible Hulk and Thor and all that and so I went back and watched all those around the time. So I was pretty late getting into Marvel and I think in some ways that hurt some of these

[00:03:54] earlier movies than if I had seen them originally because I feel like as they went along obviously they learned more of what people liked and what did well and they just became smarter and sharper, more creative and some of these are going back and watching them after over

[00:04:11] ten years of Marvel, some of them feel a little lackluster and I think, you know, Iron Man, get into this one specifically, I like the movie. I think Iron Man 3 is by far the best of the three films with Iron Man 2 which we'll get to being the worst.

[00:04:27] This one is okay, it's a good enough origin story as something like Thor is, you know, it's just that they did the most with what they thought they could pull off and they

[00:04:38] do it decently well and I think Jon Favreau who did Elf, Jungle Book, Lion King, the live action remakes, he's a very solid director. I think he's able to make a simple story interesting, you know, something like the

[00:04:53] Jungle Book or the Lion King is very simple in terms of its structure and Iron Man as well and I think he finds a way to make that interesting and fun for the most part and this wouldn't be one of my favorites of his.

[00:05:04] I think he has some better ones out there like I just listed. Robert Downey Jr. goes without being said. I think he's a great Iron Man. I think I'll always be a Captain America guy. I like Iron Man.

[00:05:17] He's a cool character obviously, you know, love the suit and some of the creativity that comes along with that later on but I just find that he's this billionaire playboy philanthropist as you know, some of the taglines are for his films and I just inherently find that less

[00:05:31] relatable than someone like Captain America or some of the other characters where he just feels even though he has personal problems and his own normal everyday problems as well, which is something I always feel kind of distant to Iron Man even though he's a fun character.

[00:05:47] So I feel like typically and that's why I think Iron Man 3 is the best is because that to me, that's when he feels the most grounded whereas in this, he is learning and you know,

[00:05:56] it's almost somewhat fish out of water but I still am never fully on board with him like I'm never fully connected with him as maybe others seem to be. I know some people are like Iron Man's the best. I don't really feel that way personally.

[00:06:09] I can understand the argument. I just personally, I don't feel that way. Jeff Bridges as the villain is very good. You know, love Jeff Bridges in everything. I like the opening scenes in Afghanistan.

[00:06:20] That's really cool and you know, the creation of the suit, all that good stuff and I like the scene where he flies to Afghanistan after the suit, you know, is made or established

[00:06:31] and then the planes, the fighter jets come after him and then also when they try and replace him as the head of Stark Industries, all that stuff is interesting. It's nothing amazing but once again, this is the first movie that alright, let's see what happens with this.

[00:06:46] They did a solid job better than DC has done especially establishing a new franchise, a new character. You know, this is definitely one of the, it's a pretty decent entry point. It's never gonna be a favorite Marvel movie for me especially since I got to it so late.

[00:07:01] It does the job as best it can. I feel like there are points where it drags a little bit, it's maybe a little long. Knowing where the character goes on later, he's just not as interesting here.

[00:07:10] He is just, you know, a billionaire guy and a snarky kind of guy which is okay but just doesn't do a whole lot for me. So solid movie. Glad, you know, glad it did so well that we got all these Marvel movies from, that are still going on.

[00:07:24] Three and a half out of five for that one. Alright, let's get to The Incredible Hulk which came out in 2008 and it's directed by Lewis Leterrier, stars Edward Norton as the Hulk, not Mark Ruffalo as that would be, as he would be recast later on.

[00:07:41] Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, William Hurt, Tim Blake Nelson, Ty Burrell, Christina Cabot, Peter Imensa, Chris Owens, that's about it I believe. This one made $264 million against a budget of $140 so not a hit financially. It's the lowest grossing Marvel movie even at this point and critically pretty bad.

[00:08:05] I didn't see this one probably until maybe 2017, 2018 around the time I think maybe sometime around I think when I was in college. I had heard about it over the years but I heard everyone just saying oh that was just terrible and like you don't need to see it.

[00:08:19] One bad MCU movie or something along those lines. I was like okay and so I just never got around to it and then finally I had seen all the other Marvel movies at that point. I was like all right I'm gonna watch it. I like the Hulk.

[00:08:32] How bad could it be? And it's not, I hate to say it, it is just pretty bad. I like Edward Norton as an actor. I think he's a fantastic actor and I don't think he's bad in this.

[00:08:43] I think the script is pretty bad so it doesn't really offer him much to do and so his talents are pretty wasted and really overall just the movie is just very poorly put together. I feel like it's just goofy.

[00:08:56] The effects and not to say that every Hulk, I think even in the Avengers movie, the Hulk doesn't look amazing in terms of the effects but in this it's pretty bad. I don't like the Hulk movie just titled Hulk from Ang Lee.

[00:09:09] I don't really like that one either. Maybe that one, I like that one maybe a little more than this one but neither are very good. I don't know why it's so hard to make a decent Hulk movie.

[00:09:19] They did do She-Hulk which you know is a fun show and it's more, it is a TV show so maybe that's a better fit for him but I feel like maybe he just is best suited as a supporting character.

[00:09:30] You know, maybe him because at the forefront he's not the most fascinating character to me. I like him, he's fun but I think he's best when he's just the Hulk. When he's by himself I don't really find the character all that interesting.

[00:09:42] It's pretty been there done that in my opinion and I do like how you know there's the experiment with his origin where they're trying to recreate this World War II experiment and then it fails

[00:09:52] and there's the gamma radiation and that causes him to become the Hulk and then there's also the abomination creature that's created which outmatches him and that is kind of the big conflict towards the end.

[00:10:04] All that is, it's okay, it's just the direction is choppy, it looks pretty bad like not just visual special effects wise but I think even just cinematography and lighting just looks pretty cheap considering the budget effects as I said not amazing on the Hulk especially

[00:10:19] this point just of all the Marvel movies that have come out I think this one looks the most dated in terms of the effects. I don't know if even now I love the look of Hulk, there's just something about it that

[00:10:30] feels fake and so they haven't proved that though but in this especially it just does not look good. I like Liv Tyler, I like Tim Blake Nelson, the whole cast is good. William Hurt, like it's a pretty solid cast, it's just they are fairly wasted with what's offered.

[00:10:47] Louis the Terrier, I don't love him. I mean looking at some of his work he's done Clash of the Titans, Nicee Me, Fast 10 so not I don't think there's any movies in there that I love.

[00:10:59] He's a kind of a goofy action director which is okay it's just in this maybe he just wasn't the right choice and maybe they just didn't know what to do with the character they were

[00:11:07] just going for it like they did with Iron Man but this one just did not work out very well and main reason why they recast the movie is Edward Norton was really not happy with

[00:11:15] the way the film was put together at the end, how it was edited, how it was presented and so he I mean there's a few different stories he stepped away because he didn't want to

[00:11:23] be seen as just the Hulk in his career but then other people said no it's because he made such a fit about how the character and the movie was presented at the end and so they ended up recasting him with Mark Ruffalo which I think is far better.

[00:11:39] Again I love Edward Norton but I think in the context of MCU Mark Ruffalo just fits that character more. I don't know why exactly but it would be kind of weird to think about how it would

[00:11:49] have been different if Edward Norton was the Hulk in like the Avengers and all those other movies like it just that doesn't really fit for me. So overall pretty bad movie to me still I've seen it twice now and you know got worse on

[00:12:02] it on a repeat viewing it's boring it's just yeah pretty crappy in my opinion. I don't know if there are many defenders of this movie really I think everyone kind of

[00:12:10] agrees this is a pretty low level Marvel which is too bad but because if hey if they can make a good Hulk movie go for it I'd love to see it you know I'm not against them making

[00:12:18] a big budget Hulk movie there's a way for it to be done considering all the weird things Marvel has done and the characters they've injected into their movies. They could do a Hulk movie they just need the right crew to put it together.

[00:12:32] That one is a two out of five so not barely a two. All right let's get to Iron Man 2. This one came out in 2010 also directed by Jon Favreau stars Robert Downey Jr., Mickey Rourke, Don Cheadle, Gwyneth Paltrow, Scarlett Johansson, Sam Rockwell, Samuel L. Jackson,

[00:12:49] Clark Greggs, John Slattery, Kate Mara, Jon Favreau, Leslie Bibb that's about it I think and this one made $623 million against the budget of around $180 so you know bigger than a bigger hit than the first one definitely a success financially and a big change of

[00:13:08] pace after The Incredible Hulk in terms of financial success and got them definitely got them back on track but also as opposed to the first film which was strongly received for the most part this one got pretty mixed reviews and is always considered to be one

[00:13:22] of the worst MCU movies. I think this is it is better than The Incredible Hulk so I feel like whenever I hear people talking all right what's your least favorite Marvel movie I feel like most of the time

[00:13:33] they say Iron Man 2 but I feel like most people forget that The Incredible Hulk exists. I feel like I never hear anyone talk about it most people haven't seen it because I think since Edward Norton was in the role most people don't associate him or associate

[00:13:49] that movie being in the MCU you know and so I think some people think that's like standalone separate but I don't know could be talked blowing smoke there but I think in The Incredible

[00:13:59] Hulk is the weakest Marvel movie and then this would be a close maybe close second or third for sure I don't hate it you know this does introduce Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow which in this movie she is a little overly sexualized which there is a sexual

[00:14:13] sexuality to the character but in this she's just presented a little too flashy I guess in a way I think in this movie they just it was more like meant to be like eye candy you

[00:14:23] know it I don't know if they're expecting the character to go on do be in the rest of the MCU in a bigger way I don't know what they were thinking but at least in this

[00:14:31] she's not very well written I think she gets a lot better I think even just by the Avengers movie she's a lot stronger of a character and then she's gone on to be a Black Widow

[00:14:39] and all those so I love the Black Widow character not really in this I think Scarlett Johansson is awesome as Black Widow I love she's my favorite actor or one of my favorite actors

[00:14:49] Mickey Rourke is a really cool villain I think it's it is goofy sometimes and some of the effects are a little goofy with his different weird tech gear and all that but it's okay

[00:14:58] it's definitely not I think Marvel has had worse villains since so I think just because this one was one of the first ones that's one that people always go to because it's

[00:15:06] just maybe the most familiar maybe maybe I'm wrong there but I don't hate him as a villain Mickey Rourke is just a fun actor Gwyneth Paltrow where she's Pepper Potts is his girlfriend

[00:15:16] and she's good I don't think she's ever really well written in the series and Avengers and anything I just I feel like she's such a throwaway character to me so I think that

[00:15:25] is one fault of the Iron Man series is I just I think Gwyneth Paltrow's character is she's good at it but I think the character is just never interesting which is too bad because

[00:15:34] I think she's a good actor but the Monaco Grand Prix sequence where there's the Mickey Rourke's character attacks I think that's probably my favorite scene both visually the intensity of it I think all that works and Black Widow has some cool like martial arts

[00:15:49] fighting sequences as well little lackluster definitely weaker than the first one better than The Incredible Hulk but just drag sometimes not super well written a little feels a little dated just I don't think even Iron Man is all that well written it feels like it's almost

[00:16:05] just right here of The Incredible Hulk failed Iron Man did well let's do another one and maybe they rushed it again I don't know I'm just that feels like how it be how it is in

[00:16:15] my mind maybe I'm wrong but not the best execution can especially considering Jon Favreau came back as well just a little rushed a little choppy a little messy but okay it's still entertaining it's entertaining enough just by far my least favorite Iron Man movie and

[00:16:31] one of the I think the worst Marvel films as well so two and a half for that one all right few more here let's get to Thor which came out in 2011 directed by Kenneth Branagh who

[00:16:41] of course has gone on to direct the pro films like Murder on the Orient Express and a Haunting in Venice Jack Ryan shatter recruit as well it stars Chris Hemsworth as Thor Anthony Hopkins Natalie Portman Tom Hiddleston Stellan Skarsgård Kat Dennings Clark Gregg Idris

[00:17:00] Elba Ray Stevenson Jamie Alexander Rene Russo it's about it and this one made four hundred and forty nine million against the budget of 150 so yeah a decent enough not as good as Iron

[00:17:14] Man but better depth but definitely better than the Incredible Hulk and of course there have been three Thor movies since so it definitely has launched the franchise as well and kept Thor

[00:17:24] popular this is another one similar to the last two where I did not see this one until probably 2014 2015 when I was just going through all the Marvel movies that I had missed over the years I

[00:17:36] seen Dark World I think that was the first one I'd seen which I like the Dark World I don't love it I think the Dark World is better than this one maybe that's a hot take I think some people really

[00:17:45] crapped on the Dark World but I think it's better than this one to be honest and maybe if I had seen this one first I would feel differently I don't know but this movie similar to I think similar

[00:17:55] to the first Iron Man this one feels like it has those growing pains of them trying to say all right here's our character like they don't they've never done a Thor movie before how are we gonna

[00:18:06] do this let's see what happens put it in some decent hands get a decent cast and let's just you know see what people like what they don't like and which you know that's that's just the way it

[00:18:15] goes to growing pains of doing a franchise like this and that's or a TV show anything like it so I don't love the movie I think it's okay Kenneth Branagh is a director I I like him oh and he also

[00:18:27] did the death death on the Nile the other pro film I like him as a director I think he's better as an actor I think he's a fantastic actor maybe a so-so director he's almost someone like George

[00:18:39] Clooney where they have some talents as directing but I don't know if they have any amazing movies but I do like the movie okay it's entertaining enough I just think there are so many things that

[00:18:49] just either were dropped later on or still kind of irritate me about some of the supporting with first of all I think Chris Hemsworth is awesome as he's perfect as Thor that was a great

[00:19:00] casting Tom Hiddleston is a fantastic actor I love him as Loki actually think typically I'm more interested in Loki than I am Thor I think Tom Hiddleston's even just his performance is superior even though I really do enjoy Chris Hemsworth as an actor Loki is my favorite part

[00:19:18] of the Thor standalone movies Anthony Hopkins is very fun you just Elba you know kind of a small role for him he doesn't really do much but I love Idris Elba as well Kat Dennings I'm just not a

[00:19:29] Kat Dennings fan I think she is so obnoxious in these movies and it only really gets worse I think in the dark world she's hurt the most so and that's why I feel like they kind of dropped her from

[00:19:41] being too prevalent in the later movies it's just because I just I personally and I feel like most people I talked to are on the same page I just find her obnoxious in these movies that she's

[00:19:50] just not that funny I like her in some things okay I'm just overall not a big Kat Dennings fan sorry if that upsets some people but I just I don't really I think she could be taken out of

[00:20:00] these movies and it would lose nothing really she's just she doesn't really do much at all she's not really funny and she's just a little too noisy honest I maybe which sounds mean but

[00:20:11] I just she's by far my least favorite thing about the Thor films Natalie Portman I'm really glad that she has gone on to be a bigger part of these movies because in this one and in Thor the dark

[00:20:21] world especially she just is like she's almost like Gwyneth Paltrow's character she's just there's nothing there she's on you just underwritten nothing to give from a performance perspective and that's why I love in the fourth film she's another like another Thor you know essentially

[00:20:37] and so I love that she has really grown to where she started out as just like the girlfriend the love interest but now she's like she was a main character in that movie and so I'm really happy

[00:20:47] about that but that's another thing that goes back watching this it's like that script is just so poor for treating her character with any kind of substance so that's a fault I I'm so glad they

[00:21:00] change they died Chris Hemsworth's eyebrows after this I hate the look of Thor in this with the bleached blonde hair or bright blonde hair and then the depth like bleached eyebrows I think it looks terrible it's so distracting I think having every other Thor appearance be different

[00:21:18] it just I just hate the look of Thor in this so that's a bit of a detractor but overall still love you know love Thor as a character he's he's similar to Iron Man where I feel like I'm never

[00:21:28] fully considering he's his Norse God I'm there's a little bit of distance there but I still really enjoy him as a character he's fun he's charming and I like the Norse mythological sci-fi world I

[00:21:41] think all that is really cool and I think it just gets better and better as the franchise franchise progresses this is my least favorite Thor movie by far and then Thor the Dark World would be my

[00:21:51] second least favorite with Ragnarok being my favorite and then got a love and thunder being second best it's an okay movie it did start the franchise I'm thankful for that similar to some of

[00:22:05] these early movies a little dated a little stale not all that emotionally grabbing I think there's that scene with Loki and his father which is probably the most emotional moment where they're having that argument and once again I think that's why Tom Hiddleston he sometimes saves

[00:22:20] these movies because I think he is just so good as Loki and I love that the Loki Thor dynamic as well well that one is a three out of five all right let's get to my favorite of the these films

[00:22:33] or at least of you know a phase one which is Captain America the first Avenger this one came out 2011 directed by Joe Johnston stars Chris Evans as Captain America Hugo Weaving Samuel L. Jackson Haley Atwell Tommy Lee Jones Sebastian Stan Dominic Cooper Richard Armitage Stanley

[00:22:52] Tucci Toby Jones maybe a few others and this one made 370 against a budget of around 200 so not really a hit financially pretty decent reviews critically and audience wise and definitely to

[00:23:06] me at least is a step up creatively from the others this as I said this is my favorite of phase one I for one thing I as if you've heard any in my other bonus shows I love World War

[00:23:18] two history I love period films but especially World War two history so maybe I have a little bit of a soft spot for these films but one thing I can say is they do great casting for these lead

[00:23:29] you know Chris Hemsworth as Thor Robert Downey jr. as Iron Man I think Chris Evans is a perfect Captain America I'm a Captain America fan all the way when it comes to Marvel movies with Spider-Man

[00:23:38] maybe being my second favorite but Chris Evans and the Captain America character will always be my favorite in these movies and I'm sad that he's not gonna be there anymore which I'm glad

[00:23:49] they ended as they did but I really miss him and I love Chris Evans and other things as well this is my favorite I think it is the strongest in writing in direction and just overall creativity

[00:24:02] I love the World War two alternate fantasy aspect to it where he's this shrimpy little guy and then he you know does the experiment he comes out crazy buff and like Captain America I love that and when

[00:24:14] it comes to the villain now I think one thing that DC as I talked about on the DC shows is I think DC is a lot better at making villains more grounded scarier more relatable I think DC has that over

[00:24:27] Marvel whereas I think one of the one of the only memorable great villains of Marvel is the Winter Soldier I love the Winter Soldier I think he's one of the only ones that really makes me care

[00:24:37] about him that I understand that I you know find a way to relate to him that I'm actually scared of him like I think he is one of the only ones in Marvel movies that I really love and I'm like oh

[00:24:49] that was such a good villain because for the most part I think Marvel is more about the heroes which is okay but I think for example in this Red Skull I don't love Red Skull I don't you know the the

[00:24:59] neo that the Nazi alternate Nazi like Hydra thing is it's okay I think just the look of him is a little goofy maybe a little dated at this point even if it is a fantasy World War two kind of

[00:25:11] film I just I don't love the look of him I like Hugo Weaving a lot it's a great performance but don't love him I really like Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter I think Agent Carter the show is

[00:25:21] a very underrated low corner of Marvel maybe I'll do that for a bonus show sometime I like their relationship and I think it gets better you know in the Winter Soldier as well with how you know

[00:25:32] when time is elapsed and all that and this is where you meet Bucky of course who becomes the Winter Soldier I think Sebastian Stan is awesome as Bucky and I love their friendship that's one of

[00:25:43] the best things about Marvel for me or the MCU for me is their friendship and their that history there and how it progresses and what Bucky ends up turning into it's both an appreciation for

[00:25:53] World War two the military American military and World War two but there's also those poking fun at it where as it was originally you know Captain America he's just this proper like propaganda

[00:26:04] let's win the fight you know you know enlist buy war bonds that kind of thing and so it's these very cheesy parade like shows where no one really took him seriously and he was just this

[00:26:14] joke who he wasn't going out and fighting he was just dressing up in a costume and saying hey other people should enlist and you go fight but then of course towards the end he does join the fight

[00:26:25] and he of course proves himself and he becomes this icon of bravery and you know freedom I guess you can say again I love Captain America I love Chris Evans I think the the third act is the

[00:26:37] weakest part of the movie for me it's just it is just obligatory action you know it goes on maybe a little too long I really like Tommy Lee Jones in this he's fun but I think the third act

[00:26:48] drags a little bit kind of ready for it to be over it's not overly long of a movie but still a little gets a little tiresome or a little stale towards the end I do love the final little epilogue where

[00:26:59] he wakes up and they're trying to pretend what time period he's in and then he escapes and he's in Times Square but the thing he's upset about is he missed the date with Peggy I think all that

[00:27:10] stuff is touching and it works and even now going back and watching it I've seen a few times and it's still I love that moment where that's what he cares about it's like yeah shoot I missed a date

[00:27:19] he realizes everyone he knew is dead pretty much it's not a perfect movie but I think this is where they established a certain level of quality that they mostly maintained from here from then on

[00:27:30] not my favorite cap I think this is still my least favorite Captain America movie when her soldier being the best in Civil War and then this one but still of the individual franchises in MCU

[00:27:41] they probably one of the most consistent terms of quality because like I think this one this is a four out of five I'll say and that's my least favorite so I think that's saying something

[00:27:49] where Captain America they always seem to get right four out of five for that one all right let's get to the last one here let's get to the Avengers which came out in 2012 directed by Joss Weedon stars Robert Downey jr. Chris Evans Scarlett Johansson Jeremy Renner Mark Ruffalo

[00:28:05] Chris Hemsworth Tom Hiddleston Clark Gregg Colby Smulders Samuel L Jackson Gwyneth Paltrow Paul Bettany list goes on and on and on and so this one of course was like the ultimate smash of Marvel at

[00:28:19] the time this one made one and a half billion against the budget around 220 so a massive hit this really I think launched a new era of these blockbusters where I think this is you know really

[00:28:31] where the the Cinemax universe idea really came to fruition we're like all right if we bring all these characters together after these other establishing films like financially especially this is the ultimate go-to and of course they were right I made a crazy amount money was well

[00:28:48] received was just beloved by most people I think this may have been the first one that I saw I don't think I'd seen any of the ones before this in 2012 I think I saw the Avengers first because I was

[00:29:00] already aware of really all these characters and so it's like oh I'll understand it you know and which I was right you know just we'd of course he's kind of had some trouble some controversy

[00:29:09] controversies in his personal life as well as how he's been on set with people since these movies came out and on other projects which is too bad because I think Joss Whedon has some very unique

[00:29:21] qualities and he's definitely made an impact on movies in a variety of ways but he has lost a little bit of that credibility and reputation over the years recently since these movies and

[00:29:32] he of course did go on to do Age of Ultron I think going back and watching this movie I've seen it maybe probably four or five times not in a while since I just watched it recently it's it's alright

[00:29:44] I think it's still being this first one where they first time they had all these characters together on screen and balancing all you know these different worlds and all that I think it works

[00:29:52] fairly well I think it's entertaining it is fun it does feel I think production wise it looks terrible I think even the costumes and stuff considering the budget I think it all just all

[00:30:04] went to the actors and it all went to those effects which I think the effects still look pretty good but the production design especially just very cheap poor quality stuff so that is a

[00:30:15] small detractor I think one thing this movie and Ultron have is just they have issues with pacing for me I think some parts is drag while others are really really exciting I think the final third

[00:30:26] act in New York City is awesome with the monsters coming out of those portals and the team finally being there together on screen and just city being demolished I think all that stuff is pretty

[00:30:36] awesome even at this point Ultron is worse than this one I think that's my least favorite with this being my second to least favorite Avengers movie I think they really improved when the Russos

[00:30:48] took over overall still have a lot of appreciation for because it did say all right this Marvel thing is gonna work you know bringing these right these not random characters but characters from different

[00:30:58] worlds that nobody's seen on screen together before let's do it and they did it and so I can definitely give it respect for that it's just I think it is a little hasn't aged super well still

[00:31:08] has some great moments I love the cast love the epicness of the movie not not a five out of five for sure maybe it was at the time I think maybe it was for a lot of people but I think going back

[00:31:18] and watching it over the years it just it goes down a little bit sometimes which is okay not a favorite Marvel movie for me of MCU but still a solid time that's three and a half out of five

[00:31:28] all right well I think that's about it for the show as I said I do want to do phases two three and four in upcoming shows so be on the lookout for that as well as when I whenever I can get

[00:31:38] through some of the shows I'm gonna try in or that the Marvel shows I'm gonna try and do those as well maybe as a little bunch or something so if you have any suggestions at film buds on social

[00:31:48] media on letterboxd find a way to get in contact with us and let us know let me know your suggestions of what you'd want to see reviewed but I do want to do at least the movies in two three and four

[00:31:58] in their own shows like I am doing with phase one here so keep an eye out for that check out all of our other bonus shows there's tons of content there subscribe on bandcamp if not yet and

[00:32:08] subscribe to our regular podcast wherever you listen so do all that stuff sorry if that's a lot but really hope you do tell your friends about it post about it on social media all that stuff

[00:32:17] so well as always I hope you enjoyed it even have as much as I did and I'll see you next time y'all